Part 18 (2/2)

”Everything's fine, Daddy. Let's just get this done and go home.”

We served dinner without any mishaps. Mom pretty much did everything. I stood at the door and ran back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room when she needed anything. It wasn't long before the sweat started beading up on my forehead. I kept a napkin clutched in my hand to wipe at it every time I left the dining room.

Dinner had just finished so I darted back into the kitchen to start serving Mom's tiramisu. I know I looked flushed from thick sweater combined with the heat in the kitchen. Dad looked at me with concern.

”How you doing there, Bea?”

I frantically fanned my face and shook the sweater to get some air. ”I'm okay. Just burning up in this thing.”

I sliced the tiramisu and placed some pieces on small plates to take out and serve. Mom rushed in with an armful of dirty plates.

”Help me get the dirty plates off the table first, Bea,” she said briskly.

I walked out the door and came face to face with Lanie. She had been waiting for me. The smirk on her face gave me chills up my spine. If she wasn't one of the popular girls, she would never have bothered me. Too much Italian blood in me to put with her att.i.tude.

I tried to step around her, but she moved in front of me and stuck her finger in my face. ”I don't know why you keep coming around Brody, big girl, but you better back off. You're making a fool of yourself.”

I took a deep breath. ”Look, Lanie, I just work with Brody. I don't know why you feel like you have to be so mean--”

”I see the way you look at him. Not that you have a chance. I mean, if you think Brody would ever like someone as big as you, then you need to crawl back into bed and keep dreaming.”

”Fine,” I said dismissively and tried to step around her again, but she moved with me to stop me.

”Don't you talk to me like that fatsy--”

”I know you're not talking to my daughter like that.”

It was Dad. We both looked at him standing with his arms crossed in the doorway. My father was not happy. I recognized that look. His b.u.t.tons had been pushed too far. Lanie backed away from me and started to turn and walk away, but Dad's voice stopped her.

”My daughter has put up with a lot from you out of respect to Brody. No more. No one calls my beautiful Bea fatsy. You think being attractive is having your bones stick out? Real men don't like that. They want a real woman. My daughter is a real woman.”

Lanie's eyes were wide. I'll bet no one ever talked to her like my dad just had. I wondered if I should stop him, but for once in my life, I wasn't embarra.s.sed by my father's words. I moved closer to his protection.

”She keeps trying to make moves on Brody--”

”Make moves on Brody?” Dad's voice echoed down the long hall. ”Brody is almost a part of our family. He works with Bea. She wouldn't know how to make moves on a boy.”

”Fine,” Lanie shrugged. ”I'll drop it.”

”Yes, you'll drop it or I'll call the police on you for hara.s.sment,” Dad said in a threatening tone.

Lanie's mouth dropped. ”Oh, please, I'm not hara.s.sing her.” She looked at me and I saw uncertainty from her for the first time. ”I wasn't hara.s.sing you.”

I just looked at her. Oh, a big part of me wanted to open my mouth and let her have it, but that didn't always stop a bully. My dad had made his point. I bet Lanie never thought about the consequences of her actions before now. Here she stood alone in front of my angry father and there was no one to support her mean behavior.

”I'm--I'm sorry,” she said shortly. She turned and almost ran back to the dining room.

Just like that a big Italian man caused the great and mighty Lanie to apologize. Something I thought I would never hear from her lips. Dad winked at me. I saw the smile playing around his lips. I think he rather enjoyed that.

”Bullies come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes all it takes is someone else to stand up for you, Bea,” he said quietly.

”Thanks, Daddy.” I hugged his arm and walked back in the kitchen with him.

Uncle Ernie looked up from the sink where he was was.h.i.+ng dishes. His gla.s.ses were steamed up from the hot water and had slid to the end of his nose. ”Everything okay?” he asked.

”I think everything's going to be just fine,” Dad said.

Mom had stayed in the kitchen and had a tray full of tiramisu ready to take out. She gave Dad an approving nod. ”Dessert time,” she sang out.

”I still need to grab the dirty dishes from the table,” I said, rus.h.i.+ng out the door toward the dining room.

Mom sat a plate of the tiramisu in front of each guest as I cleared away the remaining dirty dishes. Lanie didn't even look at me. She sat with her arms crossed over her chest and a sullen expression on her face.

Brody gave me a warm smile when I removed his plate. ”Thanks, Bea,” he whispered.

Thankfully, I made it back to the kitchen without dropping the armload of dishes. Ernie groaned when I unloaded on the counter. I don't know where the maid had taken off. I kind of thought she should be helping us out.

”Okay,” Mom said in a loud voice when she reentered, ”one more tray of desserts, then clean up, then out we go.”

We were all pretty tired by the time the last dish was dried. Dad and Ernie loaded up the van while Mom and I made sure the kitchen was back to its impeccable state. Brody walked in just when we were heading out the door.

”You leaving already?” he asked.

Mom looked at him with surprise. ”Was there something else you needed us to do, honey?”

”No,” Brody said hurriedly. ”I was just hoping you could hang out for a while.”

”I don't think your folks are much into hanging out with us,” Dad's voice said from the door. He and Uncle Ernie came in to pick up the last box of restaurant items sitting by the door.

”They just need to get to know you--”

”I don't think so, Brody,” Dad said curtly. ”Between your mom and your girlfriend, I think we've had enough insults in one day.”

”Girlfriend?” Brody asked with a frown.

”Lanie,” I said quietly.

”Lanie's not my girlfriend,” Brody protested.

”She sure thinks so,” Dad said.

”She's not,” Brody retorted. ”My parents seem to like her a lot and she lives right beside us so I hang out with her. She's definitely not my girlfriend though.”

”But you went to Homecoming with her--” I began to say, but Brody broke me off with a wave of his hand.

”That's because the girl I really wanted to take wasn't interested.”

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